Lufthansa has consented to suffer a $4 million consequence for purportedly oppressing Jewish travelers who were attempting to load up a corresponding flight in Frankfurt in May 2022, the US Transportation Division said on Tuesday.
Lufthansa denied 128 Jewish travelers, virtually every one of whom wore pieces of clothing commonly worn by Universal Jewish men, from loading up a corresponding flight in Germany based on supposed trouble making by certain travelers, the Transportation Division (Speck) said.
Despite the fact that many of the passengers did not know each other or were not traveling together, DOT said that passengers who were interviewed said Lufthansa treated them like a single group and denied all of them boarding for the alleged misbehavior of a few.
The New York-to-Frankfurt-bound passengers were trying to get on a connecting flight to Budapest.
Under the assent request, Lufthansa consented to pay $2m and the Branch of Transportation said it will acknowledge the carrier for $2m that it paid in pay to travelers.
Lufthansa owned up to no infringement under the assent request and it rejected that any of its representatives oppressed travelers. It claimed that the crew’s instructions were being ignored by as many as sixty passengers at any given time.
In the consent order, DOT stated that the airline had expressed regret and issued numerous public apologies for the circumstances that led to the decision to deny boarding.
The Transportation Department cited the airline’s statement that the incident “resulted from an unfortunate series of inaccurate communications, misinterpretations, and misjudgments throughout the decision-making process.”
According to a statement released on Tuesday, Lufthansa has fully cooperated with the Department of Transportation (DOT) since the incident in 2022 and continues to focus on numerous initiatives, such as collaborating with the American Jewish Committee to create “a first-of-its-kind training program in the airline industry for our managers and employees to address antisemitism and discrimination.”
The US Department of Transportation stated that the fine is the largest it has ever imposed on an airline for violating civil rights.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg stated, “No one should face discrimination when they travel, and today’s action sends a clear message to the airline industry that we are prepared to investigate and take action whenever passengers’ civil rights are violated.”
